Once More into the Fray
by anbu-kakashi-girl666
Summary: Team delusional! Beth survives Grady but wakes up all alone with serious blood loss. Daryl can feel his sanity slipping away from him as he is forced away from the women he loves. Both have to fight to get back to each other. But the road to happiness is full of dangers, they just gotta remember to have a little faith. My take on what the rest of the season should be!


I own nothing- but if I did this is how the rest of the season would be written… Enjoy

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"I'm..Ali..ve…" The words fell from her lips as she sat up, wiping the dirt and blood away from her eyes she scanned the room she was in. It was dark, no windows but she could see sunlight shining through the cracks of the wooden walls. A shed maybe? How had she gotten here? Then the memories raced back into her mind. The hospital, Daryl, her family all there in the hall; then Dawn calling back Noah. She remembered how her blood had boiled at the women's nerves. How dare she call for Noah's return, who did she think she was? There was no way Rick was going to let her have him. Then it clicked for her, why did it have to be Rick who stood up for him? Noah was her friend, she saved him from this place, and it was her that should stand up against Dawn.

Walking over she knew how stupid she was before she even placed herself before the cop. The pair of scissors she had wouldn't do anything. But still she had to prove to the women that she wasn't weak, that she could just go barking orders to everyone and expect them to just do it. She didn't own anyone. Not her not Noah not anyone. Then it all went to black, there was nothing after that.

She didn't remember the pain from the gun, just the heat on her chin as the gun went off. Reaching up she went to feel the wound on the side of her head. Her fingers were met with a wet soft hole. She could feel where the bullet had excited her skull, and then did the same to her chin. It was then that the pain hit her, crashing down like a ton of bricks. It was like someone poured gas through her skull and threw a match on it. Her scream was ripped from her throat before she could stop it. How could she be alive? The gun shot should have killed her; it would have been easy quick. But no know she was going to die in pain. Maybe she would go into shock and pass out, but what if she didn't. What if her scream alerted the walkers in the area? They would come, they would smell the blood and they would finish her off. She prayed that she would pass out; if there was any god left in this world she would just soon fall into shock.

As she laid there shaking from the pain she said goodbye to her sister, she told her she loved her and that she missed her where ever she was. She would have cried of she could have but the pain was just too much, there was no room for tears. As her vision started to become tunneled she smiled, knowing that soon she would be with her daddy. She let her eyes close and the darkness pull her down. She would get to see her mom and brother everyone that she had lost and cared about.

Everyone except Daryl.

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Daryl had his hands balled in front of him. He sat there back against the tree watching the others catch their breaths; the hoard had come from the south. Maggie was on watch but a lot of good that had done, his lip pulled back in almost a snarl watching her cry over Beth's body. She didn't give two shits about the girl after the prison fell. He wondered how long she had even looked for her or if she even had at all. Now because of her Beth couldn't even get the goodbye she deserved. He barely had time to move Beth's body into the lean to and shut the door. Sure they could go back to where they had left her but who's to say that the walkers are all gone? What if he couldn't find his way back to that little clearing? There was nothing there making it stand out. Just the big willow tree they were going to put Beth under and that little lean to shed.

Why…Why had he let her step up to that bitch of a cop? The girl he had spent all that time looking for, the girl that kept the light in his life, the girl that he loved. That's right he could say it to himself now, now that it was too late. He loved her, loved the way she sung the way she would laugh and smile like nothing in the world mattered. Once he had her in his hands he should have never let go. He should have picked her up taken her away from the god damned hospital, and if she fought him he should have just dragged her.

Maggie's sobs pulled him back to the now. The rage that ripped threw him caused him to jump up and stomp over to her.

"What the fuck you crying for? All this shit is your fault!" He yelled at her. Everyone's heads jerked toward Daryl, Maggie looked up from her place in Glenn's arms and squinted her eyes at him.

"Excuse me!?" She said tears running down her cheek. "I lost my sister!" She screamed at him standing up, only to have Glenn hold her back.

"A SISTER?! Is that what you call her?" he said getting closer to her. Rick and Abraham moved to step between them. "Tell me this then, how long did you look for her?"

Maggie cut her eye at him. "What are you talking about?"

"After the prison fell, how long did you look for her? A week, two? A day? Fuck did you even spend an hour looking for her!?" Daryl was yelling at the top of his lungs. Rick put a hand on his shoulder trying to calm him down but Daryl shrugged it off roughly. "Beth though bout y'all every god damned day. She never thought you were gone. She never stopped believing."

Maggie cast her eyes to the ground moving more closely to Glenn. "You don't know how hard it was." She said still looking at the dirt.

"YOUR RIGHT! Please tell me how much harder it would have been to add four letters to those signs you were leaving for Glenn. B.E.T.H…..come on tell us how much you pained over your three second decision to leave the fucking state without her?! You had lost her long time before today. You gave up! She never would have…" Daryl jerked away from Ricks hand once more. "Even with a dumb redneck screaming at her that she would never see you again…" he turned his back to all of them. Not wanting them to see the tears building up in his eye. "She never…" He choked on a sob and had to stop.

"Daryl…." Rick said walking up behind him. "We all miss her." He said.

Daryl just shook his head. "Can't stand to be around the blabbing bitch no more." He walked over to his tree and picked up his bow. "Going out to scout the area." He said over his shoulder to Rick. Carol went to fallow him but Rick reached out to stop her.

"He's got to work this out on his own," he said looking back at his brother "Trust me I know…..been there myself." Rick watched as Daryl's shadow disappeared into the woods. He didn't know when Daryl had fallen in love with Beth but it was clear as day now. The memory of the pain of losing Lori was all to present in the back of his chest. He understood exactly how the man felt. Time was what he needed now. Time and a little booze to take the edge off. He didn't envy what Daryl was going through, but he did sympathize with him.

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When Beth opened her eyes she could only see darkness. Her heart skipped a beat as she sat up, it was night time. How long had she been passed out? How had she not died? The pain was still there but it had lessened greatly. There was fresh blood on her shirt, she wondered how much blood she had lost. Could she survive with what she had left? Beth took her time move each part of her body, her legs and feet moved just like they were made to. Her back and neck were really stiff, but seemed to still be ok. The bleeding was her only problem, how can she close the wound?

Then she remembered, back on the farm. Before the dead started to rise, her brother had been shooting cans on the fence when her pony had gotten spooked and ran from the noise right into his line of fire. The bullet had entered her leg and out the other side. Daddy had said that was a good thing, if the bullet had stayed in her leg that it could have caused a whole mess of problems. But because it had been through and through it was something he could fix quickly. Her pony was brought around to the barn and he laid a flat melt rod in a fire. Then after cleaning the wound he pressed the hot brand to its leg.

Beth slowly pushed herself to her feet. She had to grab the wall to keep the room from spinning. She knew what she had to do. She had to cauterize her wounds, both of them. Looking around the shed she found the things she needed. There was a small metal poll leaning in the corner, it looked like it had once been a part of a fishing poll. She would have to wait on the fire till morning her knife still hung on her hip she could shine it and start a small fire with the sunlight. There was just one thing left, she had been laying in the dirt for god knows how long, she had to clean out the area before she could do anything, that meant cutting her hair as well. She needed to be able to see what she was doing. This was going to hurt like hell but if she wanted to live, this is what it had come too.

Her body ached as she walked over to the door and pushed it open. She was on the edge of a small clearing. The moon was full and cast a good amount of light on her surroundings; the shed was the only building in site. How far away was the hospital? Who brought her here? All these questions she wrestled with as she walked toward the edge of the tree line. There had to be some water somewhere. She needed it to be, her life depended on it.

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Daryl had circled the area they rested at almost five times. He had to have walked at least four miles in all, and his rage had not wavered in the least. Soon he couldn't take it and grabbed a thick branch off the ground and slammed it into the nearest tree trunk. The branch splinted but didn't break so he slammed it against the tree over and over until it cracked clear in two. As the wood fell to the ground Daryl dropped to his knees. The sobs that over took his body made him shake. How could he live like this? The pain of losing her once destroyed him, the second time killed him. He actually felt pain in his chest; it was like someone dumped a house on his chest. Sometime he couldn't breathe; the first night after she had been killed he woke up all of a sudden gasping for air. He could feel his sanity breaking; he could actually feel himself slipping.

"Come on Dixion."

Daryl's eyes popped open, but his body froze. It was her, that sweet voice that was branded into his mind, into his very soul. He didn't dare look up, knowing that if he did she would disappear. Instead he just sat there, on his knees staring at the ground.

"Well ain't you gonna say something?"

He had to look up that voice was like honey and wrapped around him like silk. Slowly he looked up to the branch above him. There she was. Sitting against the tree letting her legs hang in the air. She was in a light blue summer dress. Her hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun letting some fall into her perfect face. She smiled at him as he sat up and sat cross legged looking at her.

"You're gone." He said chewing on his lip.

She smiled at him. "Hm. Am I?" She raises her hands and looked down at them studying them. "Look here to me." She said smiling back down at him.

"I dead?" he asked looking around at the wood checking his surroundings. This made her laugh. The same sweet bubbly laugh he loved.

"I don't think so? But what do I know. I'm not here remember?" She closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree. She was beautiful, he couldn't see one thing wrong with her. She was perfect and he loved her, so he watched her. Not wanting to loss this moment. He wanted to keep her as long as he could, even if she wasn't really there.

Finally he spoke, "Are you an angel." It was more of a statement then a question.

"Could be. You need a guardian angel?" she asked. "Acting the way you are now, someone has got to keep you safe."

Daryl felt ashamed. He felt bad for letting his anger out on Maggie, then he just up and left what if something happened to one of them when he was gone? He wasn't there to protect the only family he has left. Pulling his hand to his mouth he started to chew on the skin on his thumb.

"Your acting like a jackass again Daryl." He looked up and saw she was sitting right next to him. There was no sound of her jumping down from the tree. Just one second she was up there and in another she was beside him. He could smell her, the mix of vanilla and woods. His body ached to reach out and touch her, but somehow he knew that he couldn't.

"I miss ya…I loved ya…" he said looking at her.

She wrinkled her brow and put her hands on her hips, "And this is how you show that? Throwing a fit and hurting others? You think this is what I want?"

"Don't see the point. Everything is gone. How do I keep going…...lose….everybody..." Daryl let his hair fall in his face, the sobs raking back threw his shoulders.

"I'm fighting dixion…." He could feel her breath brush against the shell of his ear, "I'm fight'en hard for you out there, fight for me too…..just gotta have a little faith."

Daryl turned to ask what she meant, but she was gone. There was nothing, no foot prints in the dirt or sound of her walking away. She was just gone. What did she mean….she was fighting. Was that an angel or some fucked up trick his mind had played on him?

"….Find…me…" It was a whisper that flowed on the wind. Daryl closed his eyes, and shook his head. One last time. One last time he would put his faith into something. He wanted to, no he needed to let himself believe, this would be what he lived for. He had to get back to her body, just to see. His vision might have been fake but there was something pulling him back to her.

"One more time…" he said to him self as he walked back towards the group. This was going to be hard to explain, hell he even thought he was nuts, so how was he going to convince the other of what he saw.

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Beth thanked whatever higher power that was watching over her, after only a five minute walk she had found a tiny stream, the water ran clear enough that she could see to the bottom. After drinking in a few hand fulls she took a deep breath and laid down the in cold water. The shock of the cold soon wore off as she gently rubbed the dirt and mud out of her hair and face. After a minute all she could see was the faint pink of blood running down stream. Slowly she made her way back to the clearing. There was nothing to do then but wait.

Her mind started to drift, and soon landed on the one thing she couldn't push out. Daryl.

The ach in her head was replaced by the one in her chest. Her heart seemed to be lined with lead as she pictured him in the hospital. He was so handsome and strong, when Beth was walking over to him all she wanted to do was throw her arms around him and never let go. She didn't even know if he felt the same way. It didn't matter now, he was most likely miles away.

Back at the prison she would watch him as he fixed motorcycle. The sweat glistened on his arms and shoulders. She knew that smoking was bad for you but by god she didn't know how many times she had finished in her cell to the image of him leaning against the wall with a cigarette hanging from his lips.

She must have passed out again because the next thing she knew sunshine was warming her weak body. Quickly collecting small twigs and patches of moss she created a small bundle, and then got to work with her knife. The sun was strong today the buddle started to smoke almost immediately. Throwing it in a bigger pile she waited until the fire was burning high before she laid the metal poll on the edge of it.

It took all of ten minutes till the metal was glowing white hot. Because the wound on her chin was the easiest to close she started with that one. With one deep breath in for courage she pressed the hot end to her chin. The pain was worse than before, but she held it there. She knew she had to be sure it would close completely. Her hand started to shake and she could no longer hold it to her skin she ripped the poll from her skin and dropped to the ground. Her sobs echoed through the clearing tears now freely pouring from her eyes.

Sticking the poll back into the flames she sobbed, "One more time. Just one more."


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